


Sick and Twisted Affair

by CaliBDiamond



Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel
Genre: Drama, F/M, Romance, light fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-05
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 06:12:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/671192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaliBDiamond/pseuds/CaliBDiamond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>~*Written in the style of a 5 things Meme*~<br/>Tony and Syri’s affair is progressing into something more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Love Crime

Syri should have been at home with Steve, and God knew Tony ought to be treating Pepper to dinner for missing her birthday last month, but neither one of them wanted to be where they were _supposed_ to be. Instead, they’d both locked themselves in the workshop beneath Tony’s Malibu home. The billionaire had swept the brunette up after work and flown her all the way across the map to California so the two of them could be alone.

People were suspicious as it was about their relationship, and they had been suspicious for a long time. Syriana and Tony hadn’t given each other the best first impressions at the start, but over time, they’d started opening up and getting much closer than they should have. Though, if asked, Syri would admit that Tony’s charm made it hard to hate him forever. Tony, on the other hand, wouldn’t even admit to himself that maybe the snarky little woman wasn’t as bad as he’d thought her to be. His actions spoke much louder than his words alone, and he was constantly showing up at SHIELD with excuses to see her alone. He claimed he needed her for projects that nobody else was good enough for, but couldn’t afford to hire her for the company on account of the fact that they were at each other’s throats and he didn’t want to waste time and paperwork when he’d probably fire her ten times a week anyway.

Syri’s attitude in public was about the same as Tony’s. She spoke to the man with a nasty, almost sarcastic tone and shot him dirty looks to match. She complained about him to anyone who listened, but she always seemed to have time whenever the man came to see her. Her coworkers talked behind her back about this fact, and rumors ran rampant around Stark Industries as well. Even Pepper and Steve were a little iffy about leaving the two alone so often, but neither one ever said a word about it to their respective significant others.

Behind closed doors, the two tech-heads were nearly inseparable. Sometimes it was because neither of them had been laid in a while, and sometimes it was because they just needed each other. Neither of them had ever spoken about their strange little relationship. It was what it was, it seemed; Sex and companionship without real love. At least, not at first.

“Pass the tweezers,” Syri mumbled as she peered at a microchip through a magnifying glass Tony had set up for her.

“I haven’t even unzipped my pants yet,” the older man quipped back, chuckling as he rooted around in one of the drawers for the tool the woman had requested. “You sure you need them now?”

“Better to be prepared beforehand, right?” Looking over at the billionaire, Syri tried not to smile. “Don’t want to get caught without the right tools when you need them.”

“Touché, princess.” Handing over the tweezers, the older brunet pushed his wheeled chair over to where the bar was, unscrewing the cap off of the top of a bottle of scotch. He took a quick drink straight from it before waving it over his shoulder at his companion. “Refill?”

“Yeah…” Syriana nodded slowly, sounding distracted as she fiddled with the chip until it snapped into its place on the motherboard. “Make it a triple, Taplight. Buzz is wearing off.”

“Triple for the lady, rest of the bottle for me.”

“Take it easy on the booze, Stark. You still owe me food. You promised.” Leaning away from the magnifying glass, Syri blinked her eyes a few times and pointed the tweezers at Tony. “I’m not settling for pizza again. I did not come here dressed like this for Domino’s, _capito?_ ”

Pausing as he poured the booze into a glass for Syriana, Tony looked over at her and studied her crimson draped form hunched over the table. She’d chosen to sit on the stool instead of one of the more comfortable chairs in the workshop, claiming that the discomfort made it easier for her to keep her mind on her work. Her fancy heels lay discarded beside the stool while her dainty looking feet were hooked around the rungs. The hem of the dress that the billionaire enjoyed seeing her in had ridden up and bunched around the crook where her hips connected to her thighs, and if he tilted his head at just the right angle, he was sure he’d be able to see whether or not she was wearing anything underneath. When the woman’s words had finally sunk in, the brunet rolled his eyes and scooted across the floor to set the glass beside her on the worktop.

“Fine. How’s Chinese sound to you?” He asked, taking a long sip from the bottle in his hand while his brown eyes darted to peer down the front of Syri’s dress.

“Why spend a hundred dollars on something that will just make you hungry later?” Scrunching her nose, Syri caught the older man staring at her cleavage and reached over to pinch him with the tweezers. “Quit perving and get back to work. You were the one that insisted this thing needed to be put together before midnight.”

“I think I’d rather put the two of us together before midnight, thanks. Have I ever told you how sexy it is when you do dirty work in that dress?”

“You tell me every time you see me.” A smile curled the corner of the brunette’s lips as a light flush tinted her cheeks. “But it’s always nice to hear.”

“I’m serious. You get yourself all dolled up and pretty, then you sit down and do hard work that gets your hands all greasy and filthy and you don’t complain at all when you get anything on your clothes. Any other woman I know would throw a fit if they even got a spot of oil on something that fancy.”

“Taplight, I hate to tell you this, but the girls you know are prissy little bitches. I wasn’t raised to freak out over every little stain on my clothes. I played in the dirt and helped my dad take cars and radios apart. The only reason I dress so damn girly sometimes is because I know _you_ like it.”

“That’s why I adore you, princess.” Leaning over, Tony planted a kiss to Syri’s cheek and moved over to get back to work on his own portion of the motherboard they were building. “Because you aim to please, but you do it on your own terms. Don’t tell me you don’t get anything out of dressing up for me.”

“Of course I do.” Licking her lips to hide a smirk, Syri finally picked up her glass and took a drink of the strong booze. “I enjoy knowing I can almost break your neck in public just by walking into a room dressed like this. Don’t think I didn’t see you when you were talking to Brian. The two of you were pretty amusing, snapping your heads to the side at the same time like you’ve never seen a woman in a red dress before.”

“Ah, but I have an advantage over the pushy perv nerd.” Tony grinned, digging through the drawer again for a screwdriver.

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

“I know just how high those gorgeous legs can go over your head, and he doesn’t. Brian probably fantasizes about that, you know. He seems like a leg man to me.”

“I think he’s a _take anything he can get_ man. You know Candace that works in the cafeteria, right?”

“The big German lady?” Raising a brow, the brunet looked over at his companion, the beginnings of a disgusted look creeping across his features. “Don’t tell me…”

“Barton told me that the two of them got caught in the kitchens. And people wonder why I go out to lunch so often.”

“Funny. I thought you went out to lunch so often because of the _dessert_ in the car afterwards?”

Saying nothing, Syri threw Tony a look from the corner of her eyes and snorted. Straightening on her stool, she grunted as she cracked her back and set the tweezers aside, looking around for a clock. “You really need to put a digital in here somewhere. JARVIS?”

_Yes, Miss De Luca?_

“Time, please.”

_The current time is nine thirty-four, PM._

“Thaaaaank you.” Unhooking her feet from around the rungs of the stool, the brunette slid off and wandered away from the worktop to where her purse lay on Tony’s desk.

“Where are you going?” Tony had paused in his work the moment he’d heard Syri’s bare feet slap against the floor as she walked away.

“Gotta check in with the Captain.” Shrugging a shoulder as she dug her phone out of the purse, she looked around and then glanced back at Tony. “Can we kill the AC/DC for a minute? Please?”

“JARVIS,” The look on Tony’s face spoke volumes on how he felt about Syri taking time out of _their_ quality time together to call her _man-friend_.

 _Right away, sir._ The music clicked off, the only sounds coming from the ocean on the other side of the walls and the occasional whirr or beep from Dum-E in the corner of the workshop.

Syri took note of the look on Tony’s face and bit her lip. Sighing, she strolled back over and slipped her arms around his shoulders, giving an uncharacteristically affectionate nuzzle to the side of his head before she kissed his ear and whispered quietly, “You know, if we go out to dinner after I make this call, you and I can come back here and see if you can beat your record for how fast you can get me out of this dress.”

Turning his head to look at her, the billionaire quirked a brow, jutting his jaw out just slightly to give the illusion that he was thinking about the offer. “Promise?”

Giving the older man a gentle look and a soft kiss to match, she nodded. “Promise.”

“All right.” Sighing, Tony forced a smile and patted Syriana’s hand. “Go ahead and go upstairs. It’s quieter.”

“I’ll be back.” Running her nails through the hair at the nape of Tony’s neck, the brunette smiled and moved to head to the stairs and go up to the main level of the house. As soon as she was gone, Tony cleared his throat and glanced at the ceiling.

“JARVIS, speakers.”

_Sir, I don’t believe you should—_

“JARVIS,”

_Right, sir._

Instantly, the workshop was filled with the sound of Syri dialing Steve’s number and Tony pretended to be interested in his work as he listened in.

“Hey,” Syri’s voice was quiet as she spoke, but it rang through the shop as though she were still in the room. “Yeah, I’m pulling another overnighter… Steve, no. No, you don’t need to talk to him. Why? Because he’s being nice for once, okay? …I know. I know. Look, it’s not a big deal. I don’t mind, and you know the pay is good. No, he did not con me into— _Steve_ , come on now. I wanted to take the pro— _yes, I know_.”

Tony frowned at how frustrated the brunette was starting to sound, and he glared at the staircase as he chewed his tongue. He hoped that Steve wasn’t giving Syri hell for _staying late at work_. He knew the man was pretty docile for the most part, but he also had a bit of a temper sometimes. Golden Boy or not, Tony knew Steve could probably get just as fed up with his girlfriend’s antics as any man.

“Steve, _Steve_ , would you stop for a minute and listen to me? I’ll be home tomorrow. You and I can catch a ballgame or something. Go out to lunch. Whatever you want. …well, you knew my work came first when we started—oh, for _fuck’s sake_ , Steve! No. No, I don’t want to break up with you for my job. Would you stop yelling please? You know I don’t like— _fine_. Goodnight.”

Tony heard the sound of Syri shutting her phone off, followed by a heavy sigh. He could practically hear her rubbing at her face the way she always did when she was frustrated. She was probably fighting a panic attack, too; she always seemed to have a mild one whenever someone yelled at her. Shaking his head as he clenched his jaw and thought of the things he’d like to do to Steve for upsetting the brunette, Tony started to mutter for JARVIS to shut the speakers off again when he heard Syri whisper to the empty room upstairs,

“How did I end up with the world’s nicest asshole?” Another sigh came through the speakers. “Tony’s nicer to me when he’s yelling.”

The sound of Syriana heading back towards the staircase made Tony utter the command to JARVIS to shut the speakers off, and he bowed his head and prodded at the piece of motherboard in front of him to make it look like he’d been busy doing something. When Syri came through the glass door, he looked up and smiled, watching the way she tried to force one onto her withered looking face. Clearing his throat, Tony grabbed a rag to needlessly wipe off his fingers, and pushed his chair away from the edge of the table.

“C’mon, princess. Let’s go to that absurdly expensive Italian place you love so much. You can order as many plates of lobster linguini as you want.”

“No,” Syri mumbled, sauntering over to put her phone back in her purse and reclaim her unfinished glass of scotch. Downing the burning liquid in a few swallows, she wandered over to Tony and sat herself in his lap with her arms draped around his shoulders. “Call Domino’s. I’d much rather stay in tonight, if you don’t mind.”

“Are you sure?” Tony asked, resting a hand on one of her thighs. The look on his face could have been described as concerned, but he was careful to try and keep his features as neutral as possible. “I thought you didn’t want to waste the dress?”

“Not wasting it if you’re enjoying it.” The tiniest smile lifted the corner of Syriana’s lips and she sighed, lowering her dark brown gaze to where Tony’s hand was resting on her leg. “I’m not feeling so social anymore. I think I just want your company, some booze and a big ol’ New York style pizza.”

“All right, princess.” The billionaire gave the woman’s thigh a light squeeze. “Whatever you want.”

“Thanks.” Turning to steal a kiss, the brunette moved to get up, letting out a soft squeak when Tony held fast to her hips and pulled her back down. Leaning in, the older man pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that honestly stole her breath away. Somewhere in between biting at his bottom lip and scraping her nails through his dark hair, Syriana realized that Tony had probably been listening to her conversation. She expected it from him these days, to be honest. What he’d heard had probably made him feel guilty as hell, though he’d never say so, and he was trying to make up for it by giving her what Steve wouldn’t. Granted, it wasn’t just the sex Steve wasn’t handing over anymore; it was the attention in general. The man got so pissed whenever she worked late, but if she so much as uttered a word about him spending more time out in the field than needed, everything suddenly became a huge fight about the Avengers and how heroes were a necessity in the world. It made her feel so small when he brought up shit like that, too. At least Tony understood and respected the idea that superheroes weren’t the only kinds of heroes the world had to offer. Just because she couldn’t shoot a pistol while doing backflips and simultaneously strangling some bad guy with her thighs, didn’t mean she wasn’t doing her part.

A lot of the tech she’d helped to create, and even created on her own, was being used all throughout SHIELD and it proved that a nerdy girl with PTSD issues and a smart mouth to match her huge brain could be just as much of a hero as any one of the Avengers. Tony knew it better than anybody else that tech was important to a lot of agents in the field, and the little woman sitting in his lap was more than capable of keeping that tech running in even the most insane situations.

Pulling back from the kiss that threatened to turn into a romp on the cold floor of the workshop, Tony flicked his dilated eyes up to meet Syri’s, and smirked. “Smile for me, princess. You know that sad face of yours gives me indigestion.”

The brunette couldn’t help it as a smile weaseled its way onto her lips and she turned her head away to keep from laughing. Shaking her head, she sighed, sounding a little less miserable this time around, and ran her fingers through Tony’s hair again. “All right. C’mon, Taplight. I’m starving, and my glass needs a refill.”

Nodding as the brunette got up from his lap, Tony gave her rear end a good smack when he stood up after her, and grinned when she turned around and swatted his shoulder. The two of them didn’t say a word to each other, just burst out laughing a little too loudly and slipped an arm around the waist of the other to head out of the workshop and back up to the main level of the house.


	2. Set it on Fire

“Tony, I’m gonna need you to sign these for me,” Pepper called as she came through the elevator doors with a stack of papers in her hands. She stopped in her tracks upon seeing a familiar brunette parked in front of one of the halo-computers. Tony stood next to her, pointing at things on the screen and muttering something in the woman’s ear. Syriana nodded at whatever it was he’d said, her dark eyes flicking to their corners to where Pepper was standing. Clearing her throat, the redhead continued further into the room and set the stack down in front of Tony. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Nope.” Tony smiled brightly and clapped his hands together, moving away from Syri to pick up the papers Pepper had brought him. “Are these the contracts for the new Tower?”

“Uh huh.” Shifting her gaze from the petite woman tapping her fingertips against the screen in front of her and doing her best to look too distracted to listen in, Pepper folded her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at Tony. “You didn’t tell me that you two were working today.”

“It wasn’t on the schedule?” Tony asked absently, thumbing through the papers and squinting at the tiny print at the bottom of one. “I can’t read that. Does it say they want triple the amount for damage insurance?”

“I wrote the schedule, Tony. Nowhere does it say that Syriana was going to be here for another one of your projects.” Taking the paper from him, Pepper barely glanced at it and handed it back. “That’s exactly what it says.”

“That’s ridiculous. Scrap that and tell them to write up the original agreement. I’m not shelling out more money for this than I already have.”

“Tony,” Syri piped up, causing the brunet to jerk his head in her direction. “I’m sorry, but the access code you gave me doesn’t work.”

“What is she doing?” Pepper asked, stepping away to inspect one of the screens. “Did you let her into the database? What the hell were you thinking?!”

“Pep, she knows what she’s doing. She’s also signed a contract saying she won’t steal anything. Isn’t that right, De Luca?”

“Correct.” Syri nodded, stepping aside when Tony came over to type in the code again.

“You forgot the pound sign,” he mumbled, avoiding the startled look on Pepper’s face. “Stop looking at me like that. I consulted you on this last month.”

“ _When_ last month?” Pepper snapped through clenched teeth.

“When you were in Austin for that… meeting thing.” Still typing, Tony pulled up a file and moved out of the way. “Go through that. Flush out the clean files and anything damaged or infected—”

“Send through JARVIS’s anti-virus. Got it.” Nodding, Syri took her place again and once more pretended to ignore the other two in the room.

“I never agreed to let her into the database,” Pepper whispered as she scowled at Tony. “Jesus Christ, Tony.”

“Will you take it easy? You know as well as I do that she’s good at what she does. She isn’t going to steal from me, Pep. I mean, come on, SHIELD trusts her with information that’s like, twenty times more important than the stuff she’s cleaning up for me.” Tony argued back, shrugging his shoulders at the incredulous look Pepper shot him.

Straightening her back, Pepper took in a deep breath and let it out slowly through her nose. Fixing the woman standing just beyond them with a dark look, she shook her head, lowering her voice considerably. “Have you ever seen her file? She hacked into a hospital computer system! And she was demoted for going out on a mission without consent from Director Fury.”

“Did you know she hacked into that computer system to ensure that her mother got the cancer treatment that she needed? And she was conned into going on that mission. If you bothered to read the whole thing, you’d know that she went through hell while she was there, too.” Tony’s features hardened a little as he folded his arms over his chest, taking on an almost defensive stance on Syri’s behalf. “What does any of this have to do with her flushing out bad data, Pepper?”

“It just seems like she’s here more often than not these days.” The redhead muttered, tearing her eyes away from the brunette to check her watch. “I have to go. Are we still on for dinner tonight?”

Wincing, Tony rubbed the back of his head, looking a bit sheepish. “Hard to say. I have to oversee the data flush. Can’t just leave the kid here, you know?”

“She can’t finish this stuff downstairs in Steve’s quarters?”

“The Star Spangled Asshat is off on some sort of special duty in Washington.”

Taking another deep breath, the redhead sighed. “All right. I guess we can postpone it until after I get back from my trip. You do remember the trip, right?”

“Going to France for a week to visit your cousin, right?” Tony smiled, watching as the woman in front of him nodded.

“Right. I’ll need those papers signed by the end of the day. I’ll give the insurance company a call about the fine print and see what I can do.” Smiling tightly, Pepper leaned in for a quick kiss before shooting Syriana one last dirty look and walking right back out of the room.

As soon as the bell for the elevator dinged, Syri let out a snort and shook her head. “I don’t think your girlfriend likes me, Tony.”

“Who, Pepper?” Tony pointed his thumb over his shoulder and then waved his hand dismissively. “She acts like that towards all the women in my life.”

“Does she _really_? Wow. How reassuring.” Rolling her eyes, Syri huffed and tapped something on the screen. “Okay, it’s processing. It should take about an hour or two to go through the whole database. Did she really read my file?”

“Jesus, you really did tweak the program, didn’t you? Usually it takes four hours for all of that to be done.” Tony looked impressed as he watched Syri step away from the computer and walk over to where he was standing. Smirking faintly, he cast a quick glance over his shoulder and reached out to rest a hand on the brunette’s hip. “I really should hire you on to the company.”

“Thanks for the compliment,” Syri smiled sarcastically and gently batted his hand away. “But you’re not going to avoid that question, Tony.”

“Damn.” Snapping his fingers as he pretended to be disappointed, Tony simply shrugged and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Seems that way. I didn’t give it to her to read, if that’s what you’re _really_ asking.”

“I didn’t think you would. You know as well as I do that there are things in there I would rather not have anyone else read. She must’ve asked someone down at SHIELD about it.”

“And here I thought I was the master at snooping into people’s personal lives.” Smirking a little wider, Tony stretched his arms over his head with a yawn, looking over at the halo-computer to check the time. “Hm. You in the mood for lunch, princess?”

“Depends. What’s on the menu today, Taplight?” Syri smirked right back, barely resisting the urge to reach out and hook her fingers in the waist of his jeans and pull him closer. It was always difficult for her to keep her hands off of him when they were in danger of being walked in on. JARVIS was pretty good at warning them when someone was approaching, but neither Syri nor Tony seemed to possess the necessary reflexes to pull away from their lover before someone could discover their little secret.

“I’m in the mood for burgers, personally. Could order from that diner by the park. The menu’s pretty extensive, so really, you can have pretty much whatever you want. JARVIS, could you bring up the menu for Greene’s please?”

_Uploading it now, sir._

Syri’s gaze drifted from the billionaire in front of her to one of the halo-screens where the diner menu was slowly coming into view. Barely glancing at it, Syri shrugged and shot Tony an almost playful look before turning on her heel to head for the bar, reaching for the bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue and a few glasses. “Burgers sound fine to me. Make mine a triple. I haven’t eaten since yesterday at breakfast. You wanted some of this, right?”

“Helping yourself to my whiskey. Ballsy. Sure, go ahead and pour me a glass.” Coming over, Tony slipped behind the counter where Syri stood, watching as she dropped ice cubes into one of the glasses and poured just the right amount before sliding it to him. Reaching for it, the billionaire rested his free hand on the small of the younger woman’s back, sneaking his fingertips beneath the material of her shirt to lightly stroke the skin hidden underneath. “All right. Triple cheeseburger for the lady. Anything for dessert?”

Syri stayed silent as she poured her own drink and lifted the glass to her lips to take a sip. She leaned back into the touch of Tony’s fingers and smiled at him in the reflection of the mirror in front of them. “Will we even have time for dessert? Pepper said she wanted those papers signed by the end of the day.”

Growling a little at the way the brunette was practically eye-fucking him in the mirror, Tony ducked his head and gave the edge of her ear a nip. “There’s always time for dessert. You know that.”

“Stop that,” brushing him off, Syri stepped away to check the progress on the program she was running. Taking another long sip of her whiskey, she eyed Tony through the clear plexiglass of the halo-screen and licked the taste of the booze from her bottom lip. She had to fight not to laugh at the dark look that crept across Tony’s face. She knew he wasn’t fond of the little game of _Hard to Get_ she played with him from time to time. But the end result was always so fun and hot that he seemed to let her continue to do it.

Clearing his throat, Tony took a drink of his whiskey and chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before looking around the room. “JARVIS,”

_Yes sir?_

“Put in an order to Greene’s for two triple cheeseburgers, two orders of fries and a couple of vanilla milkshakes.”

“Strawberry for me please, JARVIS.” Syri piped up, walking over to her purse for her cigarettes. According to everybody else, she’d quit. But it didn’t matter when she was around Tony. He often bummed them off of her, which she found funny, considering he could afford to buy his own tobacco plant if he wanted. Swaying her hips a little as she walked towards the balcony, Syriana downed what was left of her drink and headed outside.

_The order has been placed, sir._

“Thanks.” Tony murmured, watching as the brunette strode over to the railing and leaned on it while lighting her cigarette. “Let me know when the delivery guy gets here, and JARVIS?”

_Yes, sir?_

“No visitors. Unless the building is on fire, I don’t want to be disturbed.”

 _Understood, sir_.

Setting his glass down, Tony headed out onto the balcony where he was met by a breeze laced with cigarette smoke. Closing the door behind him, he walked up behind the brunette and reached to brace his hands on either side of her on the railing she was leaning on. The moment he started to press against her back, she ducked out from beneath him and whirled away, giggling almost playfully.

Taking a drag from her cigarette, Syri tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. “Something wrong, Taplight?”

“You’re not being very nice.” Tony said, the words sounding childish, even coming from him. “What sort of game are we playing this time, princess?”

“No game. I’m simply teaching you how to behave.”

Tony let out a bark of laughter; he couldn’t help it. The idea that the petite woman thought she could _teach_ him anything about _behaving_ was ludicrous. In fact, she’d stated once that she liked him for the fact that he didn’t play by the rules and that behaving wasn’t one of his strongest points. Pushing away from the rail, the billionaire folded his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at her. “What are your plans next week?”

“I’m planning on working, same as always. Why?”

“Take the week off. We’ll go somewhere.”

“I can’t just take a week off, Tony. What would I tell Steve?”

“Tell him it’s work related. Business stuff. He’ll understand.”

“See,” shaking her head, Syri wagged her cigarette at him and moved to lean against one of the large plate glass windows, popping the filtered end of the cigarette between her lips again before she continued. “He’s already sick of me running off randomly during the week and working so late that I don’t come home until the next day. Besides, have you forgotten that I have a dog to think about?”

“Bring the little mutt. As long as he doesn’t shit on my plane, I don’t care.” Tapping his lip thoughtfully, the brunet smirked. “I hear Venice is nice this time of year.”

“You want to take me back to California?” Syri raised an eyebrow, pitching her cigarette over the edge of the railing. “We were just there.”

“Not Venice _California_ , princess. Venice, _Italy_.”

Blinking at Tony, Syri’s expression was unreadable. She seemed to be trying to process the offer as she stared, occasionally opening her mouth like she wanted to say something. Finally, she shook her head and turned away to look off at the view below. “I can’t, Tony.”

“Why not? I thought you wanted to see Italy?”

“I do.” She nodded slowly, running her fingers through her long hair.

“Then what’s the problem? You have enough vacation time saved up. I told you that you could bring Gabriel. What am I missing here?” Tony asked, coming over to stand beside the brunette.

“First of all, I’m astounded that you remembered my dog’s name.” Syri snorted, not tearing her gaze away from the city even when Tony leaned in close enough for her to feel his body heat radiating off of him. “Second, Steve would never go for it. If he found out I skipped off to Italy with you, he’d get even more suspicious than he already is. He questions me enough whenever I stay at work after hours, even if I’m actually working. I don’t…”

“Syri,” Reaching out tentatively, the older man curled his fingers around the brunette’s arm and gently tugged her to him. He half expected her to fight him, and was genuinely surprised when she submitted to being pulled to his side. “You deserve a vacation. You’ve had a rough year. With your brother, then your mom—”

“Tony,” Syri’s voice cracked slightly and she shook her head. “Don’t. Don’t bring up my mom, please.”

“All I’m saying, is that you need a break from all of this, princess. Do you want to end up batshit insane because you don’t know how to take time off when you need it?”

Looking up at the older man, Syriana stared at him for a long time, blinking away tears that hadn’t had the chance to fully form. Finally, she scoffed a little and turned to rest her cheek against the cold glass window. “Don’t you get it, Tony? If I stop working, I’ll start thinking about it. And if I think about it, I’ll drive myself over the edge.”

“You’re starting to sound like me.” The words were bitter as Tony spoke them.

“Besides,” she continued, taking in a slow, deep breath as she reached for the brunet’s hand and lightly stroked her fingers down his palm. “I get my own little personal vacations whenever I come and see you. It doesn’t matter if we’re working on something, or banging each other’s brains out. I get to throw away all my worries for a little while when I’m with you.”

“So throw them away for a week, princess. Let me take you out of here. Just you and me. No worrying about getting caught, no nagging significant others. We’ll turn the phones off and leave them in the hotel.” Tony started to lace his fingers with hers, only to have her pull away.

“You’re doing it again.” Syri mumbled, fiddling with her cigarette pack.

“Doing what?”

“You’re trying to be romantic with me and it… it’s sweet, really. But I thought we agreed we wouldn’t cross that boundary? Shouldn’t you be saving this stuff for Pepper?”

“Shouldn’t you be saving the backbreaking sex and maddening mind games for Steve?” Tony countered, his voice taking on a bit of an edgy tone. “Syriana, I’m starting to get confused here. What is it that you want from me? You sit there and tell me that you forget about all of your troubles when you’re with me, then you get skittish and blame _me_ for getting too mushy on you. What is it you want, princess?”

“I can’t have what I want.” Shrugging a shoulder, Syriana shot him a look and turned to head back inside, leaving Tony standing on the balcony with a scowl on his face. He watched her through the glass as she put her cigarettes away and grabbed her empty booze glass to refill it with the whiskey. Before she even had the chance to take a sip, Tony stormed back inside the Tower and took the glass from her, setting it down on the counter hard enough to make some of the liquid slosh over the side.

Syri started to protest when he grabbed her chin as gently as he could and brought her face close to his. He didn’t kiss her; just stared down into her eyes for a few minutes before letting out a heavy breath. “You infuriate me, you know that?”

“Of course,” she spoke quietly, unable to find the strength to pull away.

“When are you going to learn to start taking the things that you want, Syriana?”

“You mean like you?” The question was innocent enough, but it still made Tony twitch a little. He wasn’t sure how that statement was supposed to be taken, and his confusion was clear on his face.

“Are you saying you _want_ me, or are you accusing me of being so greedy that I have to resort to snatching things up so nobody else can have them?”

“Both.” Syriana whispered, unable to keep the answer to herself.

“Who said you couldn’t have me? You already take up more of my time than Pepper does. And I know damn well the same could be said about you and Steve. So, tell me, what makes you think that you couldn’t have me if you wanted me?”

Syriana wanted so badly to close her eyes and shut him out. She didn’t want to have this discussion. Things weren’t supposed to have gone this far. It was supposed to be sex; sex and mutual respect and companionship. There weren’t supposed to be _feelings_ involved.

“Syriana,” Tony’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts. Leaning her cheek into one of his palms, the brunette shrugged a shoulder and finally managed to tear her gaze away from his.

“Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, you can’t always get what you want.” She seemed to hesitate, bringing a hand up to rest it over one of his. “You forget that I’ve done this before. I’ve fallen for a man who had someone else, and it nearly got me _killed_ , Tony. I can’t make the same mistake twice, no matter how bad I want you. This, what we have, I’m content with it. It’s not perfect, and it’s risky as hell, but it works.”

Tony’s eyes shifted back and forth as he took in the younger woman’s words. After a few moments, he let his hands fall away from her face and took a step back, running his fingers through his hair. Nodding a little, he dropped his gaze as well and clicked his tongue. “Right. Okay. Whatever you want, princess. If you’re happy, then okay. We’ll keep things the way they are.”

“Tony,”

“No, it’s fine. You’d rather continue to sneak around instead of biting the bullet and having something legitimate with me. It’s all about the adrenaline rush, right?” Tony didn’t mean for the words to sound as damn venomous as they did when they escaped his lips, but he couldn’t help it. He was showing a rare side of himself to her, the side that was actually capable of caring for another human being without being selfish about it, and she was shooting him down. Granted, he hadn’t come straight out and said how he currently felt about her. Doing something like that was _not_ permitted whatsoever. It crossed way too many boundaries for his comfort. He’d much rather hear her say she had real feelings for him instead of just raw lust, than admit to it first.

Neither one of them said anything for a few minutes, but when Syri finally opened her mouth to speak, JARVIS interrupted and cut her off.

 _Sir, your lunch has arrived_.

“Thanks JARVIS,” Tony mumbled, stepping away from the bar. He grabbed the glass of whiskey on his way and downed it in one swallow. “Send him up. I’ll be in the shop for a while.”

“Tony,” Syri followed him, taking hold of his arm before he had the chance to escape to his workshop. “Please, don’t go. Have lunch with me. Don’t make me eat alone.”

“Why don’t you take it downstairs to Captain Douchebag?” Tony snapped, huffing a little. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like feeling so exposed all of a sudden. Syri was a pretty intuitive woman, and if there was any chance that she’d already picked up on how he felt about her, he had no doubt in his mind that she would want to talk about it. Most women were like that.

“Because Captain Douchebag is in DC for the week and I really don’t think I can eat all that food by myself.” Moving to put herself between him and the door, Syriana hooked her fingers in the waist of Tony’s jeans and pulled him tight against her front, resting her chin just above the reactor in his chest. “Please, Tony? Please don’t hide from me.”

Staring down at her as he ground his teeth and tried to make a decision, Tony glanced to the shop door behind the brunette, and sighed. “All right. All right, princess. You win. I’ll go pay for the food. Go ahead and wait for me in the living room.”

“Okay,” Syri nodded, standing on her toes to lightly press a kiss to his lips. Smoothing her hands over his chest, she smiled softly and stepped away, taking the empty whiskey glass from him to put it in the sink near the bar. Tony turned to watch her as she went, nearly shaking his head at the situation. Pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind for the time being, he fished his wallet out of his back pocket and headed for the elevator to go downstairs and pick up their lunch.


	3. Come Undone

It had been two weeks since Tony had heard from Syriana, and he was starting to get worried. Anybody who knew Tony well enough, knew he didn’t get worried. Not visibly, anyway. However, he’d started snapping at people for no reason, getting irritated with JARVIS and Rhodey and Pepper for little things that were usually his own fault. By the end of the fifteenth day of Syri being MIA, Tony finally got fed up with everything and made his way to the west side to find out just what the hell was going on.

He wasn’t fond of Syriana’s apartment building. The place was clean enough and the guy at the front desk was polite and waved him through without hesitance, though Tony was sure he only did it because he was starstruck. One of the perks of being Tony Stark was getting into places without trouble. But Tony hated this building for the sheer fact that it was so small and confining. He preferred open spaces, not cramped conditions where one could easily knock something off a wall while trying to pour a glass of Jack. As he made his way up the stairs, he stepped aside to let an elderly woman pass with her scraggly little dog and a horrible thought crept into his head. Maybe Syri’s precious dog had died. Maybe that had been the final straw for her, and she’d had one of her relapses.

She’d lost so much over the last year and a half; she was probably more on edge about everything than she let on. The girl was good at keeping that stuff hidden. He admired that about her. She was definitely a woman who could compete with him for the _Best at Hiding Emotions_ award. Shaking off the thoughts of what he might find when he got to the apartment, Tony raced up the last flight of steps and felt a slight rush of relief when he heard the sound of a dog barking behind Syri’s door. He didn’t even bother to fix himself before he knocked, straining to hear through the hysterical barking for any other sign of life coming from inside the apartment.

There was the sound of the lock being unchained, then the click of the deadbolt, and Tony nearly passed out from the relief the sight of the disheveled little brunette on the other side brought.

“Jesus Christ,” he swore, pushing a hand on the door to budge his way in. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Excuse you!” Syri snapped, closing the door behind the billionaire. “You could ask before you barge in, Tony.”

Turning around to face her, ignoring the dog sniffing excitedly at his shoes, Tony went slackjawed when he realized the woman was clad in a shirt she’d stolen from him a long, long time ago. In fact, it looked like that shirt was about the _only_ piece of clothing she had on. Pausing a moment, he leaned back a bit to peer down the short hall to where Syri’s bedroom was, and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Spangle Butt isn’t here, right?”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Tony. No.” Rolling her eyes, Syri tugged the shirt down as much as she could and stepped past him to grab her cigarettes and walk back over to her desk. She sat on the computer chair with her legs curled beneath her, and lit up. An open bottle of cheap whiskey sat beside the keyboard, along with a half eaten sandwich, and Syriana looked exhausted when she finally turned to look at him again. “Mind telling me what you’re doing here?”

“Where the hell have you been, princess? Two weeks. Two weeks, you’ve been off the radar. No calls, no drop ins. I’m pretty sure you haven’t even been to work, because Steve sure as hell didn’t know where you were.”

“I’ve been working,” the brunette flicked the end of her cigarette into an overflowing ashtray, clamping her teeth around the filter as she reached up to pull her hair back. “You know I do this, Tony. Why do you seem so surprised?”

“This isn’t surprise, princess. It’s concern. Shocking, I know.” Running a hand through his hair, Tony finally took notice of the black dog sitting patiently at his feet. He didn’t care much for dogs. They were like smelly, hairy, noisy children. But he bent at the knee slightly to give the beast a pat on the head before looking back at the brunette. “I was worried something had happened.”

“Something _did_ happen.” Syriana muttered, grabbing the bottle of booze to take a drink. The way she cringed told Tony he’d spoiled her with all of his expensive booze, and the taste of cheap whiskey probably made her want to be sick. “I got asked to work on Project SKY.”

“What the hell is that?” Stepping closer, Tony picked up the cigarette pack and lit one up for himself.

“SHIELD wants a higher security system for their unmanned jets. Apparently, there’s a crack in the code somewhere and I’ve been asked to seek it out and patch it up. It’s… proving to be difficult.”

“Difficult?” A smirk curled the corner of Tony’s lips as he leaned against the wall nearby. “Do you even know the meaning of that word, princess? You usually have no problem patching up code in my systems.”

“You keep your shit organized like someone with a serious case of OCD, Tony. I could patch your systems in my sleep.” Snorting, Syri shifted in the chair, bringing her bare legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. “SHIELD scrambles things so often that something that was in one sector last week, will be in another tomorrow. They do it to keep security at its highest. It’s a smart idea, but God is it annoying.”

“So you’re not avoiding me?”

“What?”

“You’re not mad at me for anything? This little disappearance has nothing to do with me?”

Raising a brow, Syri scoffed and let out a soft bark of laughter. Rubbing her thumb over the spot between her eyes, she shook her head. “No, you vain motherfucker. This isn’t about _you_. Jesus Tony. Sometimes a girl just needs time alone with her computers. Surely, you understand that?”

“Of course,” Tony relaxed some, reaching to ash his cigarette.

“Were you really worried about me?” Syri rested her chin on her knees again, shooting the older man an unreadable look.

Chewing at his lip a moment, Tony smashed his cigarette out in the ashtray and moved to crouch in front of the chair. He was quiet for a moment before he dropped his head forward a bit and shrugged. “Contrary to popular belief, I do have normal human feelings, Syri. I worry just as much as the next man. I get anxious when I don’t hear from certain people for long periods of time. It affects my work, my relationships with other people, and it really messes with my head when I don’t know what’s going on. You know that I have to know everything that’s going on.”

Tilting her head slightly as she studied the man in front of her, Syri nodded slowly and reached out to run her fingers through his hair.

“Knowing that your mental health is about as good as mine on a decent day doesn’t help either.” Tony continued, moving his hands from the arms of the chair to rest them on Syri’s bare thighs. “I should know that you like to hide away sometimes. You’ve done it a lot in the past, and you’ve always given me warning. But you disappear like this and…”

“It freaks you out.” Syri finished, sinking against the back of the chair. Leaning over to put her cigarette out, the brunette looked up at the ceiling for a moment and sighed. “You should know, Tony, that despite my mental health, I’m not going to do anything dumb. We had that discussion, remember? We promised each other that we would call if we ever felt like that. I don’t have any need to throw myself off of the Empire State Building. I promise.”

Nodding some, Tony stayed quiet, just watching Syriana as he lightly stroked his thumbs along her legs. It had become a habit to touch her whenever one of them was upset. It was usually just a few barely there brushes of his fingertips against her skin just to remind her that he was here if she needed someone to hold onto, but Tony knew he did it for another reason. He did it to reassure himself that she was _real_ , that he hadn’t lost what was left of his mind. This was important to him; what little remained of his sanity at times, was a big deal to him. And Syriana was just so similar to him, that sometimes he wondered if she wasn’t just some fabricated part of his life that he’d brought to the surface to make himself feel a little less alone. He supposed the fact that everyone around him could see and speak to her was probably a good sign.

“We got into another fight,” the brunette said suddenly, breaking the silence between them. “Steve and I, it was bad. He accused me of cheating on him, said that I don’t come over unless it’s after I’ve seen you. Apparently, people have been telling him things at SHIELD. How I’m not actually there when I say that I am, and how you and I are always alone together. He doesn’t believe me when I tell him none of it is true, but I can’t blame him. I’m not good at lying.”

“Steve’s like a superhuman lie detector, anyway.” Tony piped up, rolling his eyes. Fixing her with a look, he raised an eyebrow. “Is this why you took the project?”

Shaking her head, Syri grabbed the bottle of whiskey again and took a small sip, scrunching her nose in disgust. “I took the project because I wanted to.”

“Are you two still…?”

“Together? As far as I know, yeah. He’s just mad at me.” A faint, bitter smirk crossed the woman’s features. “As he should be. I’m mad at myself. I swore on my father’s grave that I wouldn’t do something like this ever again, and yet, here I am. Running around behind my boyfriend’s back with you, leading you away from Pepper like some kind of double time homewrecking tramp. I’m tearing apart my own relationship and I’m throwing wrenches into the cogs of yours. And you know what?”

“What?”

“I don’t fucking care.” Syri laughed in an almost sarcastic manner, sitting up straighter in the chair. “For the last two weeks I’ve been mulling this entire thing over. This _thing_ we have going on here, Tony, it could ruin the both of us. And I really just could not care less.”

Gently brushing him out of the way, Syri swiveled the chair to the side and got out of it, tugging the hem of the shirt down over her backside as she wandered towards the tiny living room and sat herself down on the couch. Looking back at Tony, she smiled faintly and heaved a sigh. “I crossed the line, Taplight. I did something we both promised not to do.”

“And what would that be?” Tony got to his feet, walking over to the couch. He contemplated on remaining standing; he didn’t really want to get dog hair on his clothes. But he sat down anyway, giving the brunette his undivided attention.

“I let this become more than just casual sex and companionship. It was supposed to be an affair. And instead…”

“Instead…?”

“It’s turning into something else. Something more. I… don’t know if it’s the same on your end, of course. But,” chewing at her bottom lip, Syri frowned. “I’m not attracted to Steve anymore. In fact, he makes me cringe whenever he touches me. I find myself wanting to spend as much time away from him as I possibly can, but I can’t bring myself to break it off with him. Because I’m scared.”

“Scared of what?” Tony shifted closer on the couch, gently pulling Syri’s legs across his lap.

“I’m scared that this won’t last. That we’ll get tired of each other and it’ll end up bitter and cold the way my relationship with Steve is.” Pinching the bridge of her nose, Syri heaved a sigh and dropped her head back.

Tony kept quiet, absently running his hand in slow passes along the brunette’s leg. He gave her a few minutes to get her thoughts straight before he shifted again and reached to gently grab hold of her waist. “Come here, princess.”

Grunting, Syri moved over, straddling the billionaire’s lap and resting her hands on his shoulders. Giving him a curious sort of look, the brunette closed her eyes and hummed quietly against his lips when Tony leaned up to kiss her. She scooted closer to him as he ran his hands over her back, parting her lips to deepen the kiss.

“Don’t be scared,” Tony said quietly in between kisses and light nips to the younger woman’s jaw. His hands skimmed up the back of the stolen shirt Syri wore, settling on her sides as his fingers pressed into her skin. “This isn’t like what you have with Steve. You and I are… different.”

“We’re toxic.”

“Stop that.” Narrowing his eyes at her, Tony frowned. Freeing one hand from beneath her shirt, the billionaire reached up to brush a bit of hair out of Syri’s eyes. “You and I have our bad moments, sure. We fight a lot over stupid shit. But we’re not _toxic_. We’re not _bad_ for each other. I get along better with you than I do with Pepper, and that’s saying a lot considering everything I’ve been through with her.”

“She loves you.” Syri’s voice was tiny as she spoke, brushing her fingertips over the glowing disc beneath Tony’s shirt.

“She does,” he agreed. Pinching her chin between his thumb and forefinger, Tony lifted it until Syri’s dark eyes were aligned with his own. “But I get the feeling that she isn’t the only one.”

“That’s quite the accusation, Taplight.”

“Steve cares for you, but I don’t think he loves you.” Tony continued, ignoring the look the younger woman shot him in return. “I don’t think he knows how.”

“Are you suggesting that because the man was a popsicle for so long, that he doesn’t know how to properly love a woman? Because I’m pretty sure Steve is capable of figuring that out for himself, you know.”

“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m flat out saying that Steve doesn’t know how to love _you_. He’s tried. I’ve seen him make the effort. But it takes a special person to love someone like you.”

“Gee, thanks.” Making a face, Syri puffed her cheeks out. “That’s romantic.”

“You don’t _like_ romantic, Syri. You like things up front and blunt. You don’t care about all that sugar coated fluffy stuff.” Stroking the tips of his fingers along the petite brunette’s jaw, the older man sighed. “You’re afraid of it. Because it’s padding. It’s useless, pointless padding to soften the blow of the raw feelings that you crave. You don’t need someone to bring you flowers and tell you how pretty your eyes are before they kiss you. You need someone to just haul off and do it. No beating around the bush. No games.”

“And what about _you_ , Tony?” Syri asked, raising a brow. “Do you think you know how to love me?”

“I think I’ve proven that I’m extremely capable of that, yes.”

“And _do_ you love me?”

The brunet fell silent again, simply looking up at her and stroking his fingers along the soft skin of her jaw and neck. When he saw her starting to fidget uncomfortably, Tony palmed Syri’s cheek and leaned in to press another kiss to her mouth. “I think I’m getting there.”

Syri never meant for the look of surprise to cross her features, but she honestly couldn’t have stopped it if she tried. The idea that someone like Tony— _no_ that Tony himself could actually love someone like _her_ … well, it was a little mind boggling. They’d agreed to keep this simple, to not let it go any farther than sex and companionship. Yet, here they were, sitting on the couch in her unkempt, cramped living room, very nearly admitting to feelings that they weren’t supposed to have for each other. Her head was spinning as she sat there, staring right back into his dark eyes and trying to make sense of this situation.

“What are you thinking about?” The question was so stupid and cliché, but Tony couldn’t help himself. With the way she was staring at him like he’d just shoved a diamond ring under her nose, he was genuinely curious.

Lifting her hand, Syriana traced a fingertip along Tony’s bottom lip, her features softening some. There was this look of something like sadness in her eyes, though, and it made the older man a little nervous. Taking a deep breath, Syri let it out slowly and dropped her gaze. “I’m thinking… I’m already there, and I don’t know how to keep it to myself anymore.”

It was Tony’s turn to look surprised. Sure, the girl had basically spelled it out to him just a few minutes ago, but he never expected her to admit to it. Not yet, at least. Jerked out of his thoughts when Syri suddenly vacated his lap, Tony watched her walk back over to where she had the bottle of whiskey sitting, and raised an eyebrow when she brought it to her lips and swallowed down what was left inside of it. Smirking some, he got up from the couch, watching Syri’s dog leap up to steal the warm seat, and raised a brow at the brunette. “Is it really so bad to have feelings for me, princess?”

“No,” Syri answered honestly when she turned around to face him. “It’s bad that I have feelings for you when we’re both already attached.”

“That can be fixed, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. But have you ever seen Steve when he’s really upset? I mean, the man wouldn’t hurt me. I know that much. But that doesn’t stop him from yelling. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed Tony,” Syri paused to throw her arms out to the side and heave a sigh. “But I don’t take well to being screamed at.”

“Would you feel better if I was with you?”

“ _Hell no_!” Syri’s eyes went wide as she shook her head. “He’d split your head open!”

“Okay, okay. Bad idea.” Shoving his hands into his pockets, Tony frowned a little and stared at the floor for a few moments. Lifting his head again, he quirked a brow and tilted his head slightly. “You want to go get a few drinks and figure this out? I get the feeling that the cheap stuff isn’t working for you.”

“I have to put on pants. And a bra.” Making a face, Syri glanced down at her bare legs, then back up at Tony. “I can’t believe I’ve been like this the whole time you’ve been here and you’ve made no attempt to pin me to anything. You’ve got amazing restraint, you know that?”

“To be fair, I was more worried about your state of mind than getting in your pants.” Tony smirked, shooting her a look as he eyed her legs. “But I do like the way you look in that shirt. Is there a liquor store around here?”

“There’s one about a block down if you head in the direction of SHIELD.”

“All right. You want more smokes? Maybe something to eat?” Heading for the door, Tony paused, smiling faintly at her.

“I thought you wanted to go to a bar?” Syri asked, folding her arms over her chest as she knit her brows together in confusion.

“I would rather stay in and watch you walk around with just my shirt on. Was that a _no_ on the food and smokes?”

“I could use a pack of cigarettes, actually. But I have plenty of food. I was getting ready to make pasta before you got here.” Shrugging, the brunette glanced to the tiny kitchen, then back at him. “Would you be okay eating that?”

“Sure. It’s been a while since I’ve had home cooked food.”

“That’s because you burn water, Taplight.” Snickering, Syri sighed and waved a hand at him. “Go. Get the stuff. I’ll have this done by the time you get back.”

“Hey, princess?”

“Hm?” Looking over at him, the brunette smiled when Tony came over and wound an arm around her middle and planted a kiss to her forehead.

“Say the words and I’ll make sure this situation gets fixed the way we want it, all right? No pressure. Just giving you something to think about.”

Nodding, Syri kissed him and playfully pushed him away. “Get out, loser. Before I make you walk my dog while you’re at it.”


	4. Fucked Up Situation

“So it’s true? Everything I’ve been hearing around SHIELD is true?” Steve asked as he fixed Syri with a glare. “You’ve been sleeping with Tony, haven’t you?”

Syri had known it would be a bad idea to do this. Breaking up with Steve was going to be far more difficult than she’d thought. They just weren’t close with each other anymore, and the friendship they’d once had was nearly non existent. It was like there was a wall that had slowly been building between them, and Syri was sure that if Steve were to give that wall a name, he’d call it _Tony Stark_. Fiddling with her fingers, the brunette shuffled her feet nervously, keeping one eye on the elevator doors.

“ _Syri_ ,” Steve snapped, making her jump. “Answer me.”

“That’s how it started,” the younger woman confessed, still refusing to look at the blond. “It’s not about the sex anymore.”

“What does that mean?”

Swallowing, Syri shrugged. “…I never meant to fall in love with him.”

“Excuse me?” The much bigger blond took a few steps forward, this incredulous look creeping across his face. “Did you just say…? _How?_ How can you love a man like _that_? I thought you wanted someone who wasn’t an asshole, Syriana? Tony Stark is the absolute definition of the word. You and I _both_ know that.”

“Not always. He’s not always like that.”

“You said this started with sex.” Steve narrowed his eyes even more, looking over his supposed to be girlfriend with disgust. “You didn’t think to ask me for it if you wanted it that bad. You had to go to Stark for it?”

“I _tried_ , Steve. You said you wanted to wait. I… got desperate.”

“So you went to Tony. You started sleeping with him because I wanted to wait until we were _both_ ready for it?”

“Could,” the brunette’s voice cracked a little as she shrank back against the wall, swallowing hard. “Could you stop yelling, please?”

“I’m not _yelling_. You want me to yell? I’ll yell, Syri.” Muttering under his breath, Steve scrubbed a hand through his hair and turned on his heel, pacing back and forth a few times before he faced the younger woman again and pointed a finger at her. “You led me on. You told me you cared about me. How could you ever mean anything like that when you were out running around with _HIM?_ ”

Syri flinched when the supersoldier actually raised his voice to an alarming volume, doing everything in her power not to bring her hands up and cover her ears. Sucking in a sharp breath, she turned her head away and squeezed her eyes shut. “Steve, I’m _sorry_. I never meant—”

“You never meant to hurt me, right? You never meant to screw around with the one person you told me you despised more than anyone else in the world. What happened, Syri? Did you trip and fall naked onto his lap?” Scowling at her, the blond scoffed and let out a growl, turning around to start his pacing again. “I cannot believe this. I _trusted_ you. I treated you the way a woman _ought_ to be treated, and you do _this_ to me!”

“Steve,” the brunette reached out to try and touch his shoulder, jumping back with a startled shout when he violently shook her off.

“Don’t touch me,” he hissed at her, pointing his finger in her face again.

As she stared up at the blond with tears in her eyes, Syri started to lose her hold on the panic attack that had been building inside of her on her way up to Steve’s quarters in the Tower. Shaking her head, she muttered some poor excuse for another apology and turned to rush towards the elevator. Her head was spinning; all she wanted was to get out of this room and go somewhere where she could breathe. Upstairs. She wanted to go upstairs and curl up in Tony’s bed and cry this all out. She had to get there, and she had to get there fast before she completely lost it right here in front of the angry blond.

“Where are you going?” Steve asked, his footsteps loud as he came up behind her. “We’re not done here, Syri!”

The moment Steve’s hand closed around Syri’s arm, the brunette broke. Twisting in her spot, she shoved her hands against his chest and started screaming as tears streamed down her cheeks. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she wasn’t in any danger. But the part of her that had yet to heal from the tortures she’d endured so many years ago, wasn’t as rational. She choked on air as she struggled to breathe in between her terrified shrieks and weak slaps against a stunned Steve’s chest. She wasn’t making any sense at all as she gibbered in mixed Italian and English, mixing up her words and sounding much like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. And still, throughout the whole ordeal, Steve still held tight to her arm. To be fair, he was more afraid that the girl would somehow hurt herself if he let her go. With the way she was thrashing around, she was more than likely going to crash into a wall or something.

“Syri,” he tried to get hold of her other arm to try and talk to her calmly, but the little woman wasn’t having it. “ _Syriana_ ,”

Finally managing to yank herself out of Steve’s grip, Syri backed away from him and took off running through the huge room, trying like hell to get to the emergency staircase on the other side. Steve followed, calling her name and trying to get a hold of her arm again. But the woman only dodged him and darted through the apartment, still screaming like a mad woman. Whatever had remained of her rationality was gone; she was trapped in a memory better left forgotten, and it seemed as though there was no hope in pulling her out of it.

X+X+X+X

_Sir, I hate to interrupt, but I’ve detected some troubling changes in Miss De Luca’s vitals in Captain Rogers’ quarters._

Looking up from where he was tweaking one of the suit gauntlets, Tony frowned and looked at one of the blank halo-screens in the room. “Play the security feed for me, JARVIS.”

 _Right away, sir_.

Setting his tools aside, Tony waited as the AI loaded up the requested footage and nearly shot out of his seat when he set eyes on the video that played on the screen. A terrified looking Syriana was racing around Steve’s floor with the hulking blond trailing behind her at a pace that suggested he wasn’t running at top speed. It was almost as if he was screwing with her, chasing her around to scare the living daylights out of her. Like it would do something to keep her from leaving him, maybe scare her into staying with him.

“Son of a bitch,” throwing down the oily rag he’d been using to wipe his hands off, Tony stalked out of the shop and went straight for the stairs. Screw using the elevator; it would take too long for him to get down to the floor he needed, and he doubted that Syri would be able to stay out of reach of the blond for long. “JARVIS, unlock the doors.”

_Doors are unlocked, sir._

Thundering down the stairs at a speed that would send him tumbling down them if he missed even one, Tony could hear Syri’s shouting as he got closer to Steve’s quarters. He nearly tore the door down when he yanked it open, running inside. “ _HEY!_ What the hell do you think you’re doing? Get the hell away from her!”

Steve stopped in his tracks, turning to blink at the smaller man for a moment. He had a look on his face like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to deal with Tony right now. In fact, the billionaire half expected him to come over and plow a fist into his face. But the blond only shook his head and continued to pursue the frantic Syriana.

“ _Don’t_ ignore me, Rogers!” Stomping up behind the supersoldier, Tony grabbed hold of his shirt and did his best to halt him in his tracks. This was no easy task. Steve could have probably pulled a freight train behind him if he wanted to. “ _Goddammit, hold still!_ ”

“Back off!” Steve hollered, turning around to shove Tony away from him, which caused the smaller man to stumble back and crash into a coffee table.

Shaking his head to clear it, Tony gathered his wits and grit his teeth, pulling himself back up onto his feet. “No _, you_ back off.”

Steve looked ready to toss Tony through the wall when Syri came speeding by, nearly toppling Tony over when she slammed into him at full force.

“Whoa!” The older man wrapped his arms around her the moment she collided with his chest, silently thankful for the shatterproof glass concealing the reactor. “Take it easy, princess. Breathe.”

Syriana could hardly speak as she gulped down huge lungfuls of air and grabbed at Tony, trying to haul herself as close as she could get. What little the billionaire did manage to get out of her, was jumbled and not easily decipherable. Swearing under his breath, Tony carefully scooped her up and carried her over to a couch, sitting down with her in his lap and all but ignoring Steve when he followed.

“What happened?” He asked finally, running his fingers through Syri’s hair in an attempt to calm her down. “What did you do to her to trigger a panic attack like this?”

This guilty look came across Steve’s face and the blond shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. “I… yelled at her, I guess. Took hold of her to stop her from leaving. We weren’t done talking.”

“Jesus Christ,” cupping Syri’s face in his hands, Tony gently rubbed his thumb over the swell of her cheek, frowning when the brunette cried harder and turned away to press her face against his shoulder. Scowling up at Steve, Tony moved to get to his feet. “You’re a real piece of work, Rogers. You know the woman has PTSD issues. What the hell were you thinking, chasing her around like that?”

“I was trying to get her to talk to me.” Steve huffed, narrowing his eyes a little. “We weren’t through with the conversation.”

“I think you two are about through with _everything_ at this point.”

“Does Pepper know about the two of you?” Steve asked, following Tony as he carried Syri towards the stairwell.

“For your information,” Tony stopped just long enough to hitch Syri a little higher in his arms, and to glare at Steve over his shoulder. “I told Pepper a few nights ago. She took it a lot better than you did, that’s for sure.”

“Pepper expects it out of you.” The blond muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. “You’re a bad influence on people.”

Tony rolled his eyes, grunting as Syri squirmed in his arms and mumbled a plea to be put down. Obliging, he set her back on her feet, grabbing for her when she took off running towards the kitchen. Both he and Steve followed and got to the doorway in time to see her get sick in the sink. Rubbing a hand over his face, Tony swore under his breath and walked over to pull her hair back away from her face. “Jesus, _Syri_ ,”

“Is she going to be all right?” Steve asked quietly, looking oddly meek for a man of his size. Truth be told, he felt guilty as hell for causing such a bad panic in the woman. He knew about the things she’d gone through, and he’d witnessed with his own eyes exactly what an episode like this did to her. In the back of his mind, he silently hoped he hadn’t caused some kind of mental relapse for her. He didn’t want to be the one held responsible for breaking her down after all of the hard work she’d put in to build herself back up from the last one.

“She’ll be fine,” rubbing Syriana’s back, Tony reached into the woman’s purse and dug out her little MP3 player and her headphones. While the brunette rinsed her mouth out in the sink and drank from the tap like a woman who hadn’t had a drop in weeks, the billionaire shifted behind her and gently tucked the earbuds into place in her ears. Fiddling with the gadget in his hand, he found her collection of Frank Sinatra and pressed _play_ before putting the player back into her purse.

“What are you doing?” Steve’s voice was curious as he watched Tony use the hem of his own shirt to dab at the water on Syri’s chin before he lifted her in his arms again. The brunette curled up like a child, resting her head on his shoulder and keeping her eyes focused on the reactor beneath his shirt.

“Taking her back upstairs to rest,” Tony answered flatly, heading in the direction of the elevator this time. He didn’t want to run the risk of tripping on his way up the stairs. “If she wants to talk to you later, then fine. But you so much as raise your voice at her, Rogers, and so help me, I’ll break your face.”

The blond nearly snorted at the threat, but instead, he nodded in compliance.  He understood well enough that what was apparently happening between his… _ex_ -girlfriend and the snarky billionaire was something a bit more complex than what it appeared to be. He’d give Syri time to explain herself; he owed her that much for blowing up the way he had. And he would do his best to keep his temper in check. Neither man said anything more as Tony finally stepped into the lift and pressed the button for the top floor.

X+X+X+X

Syri felt a little woozy when she woke up sometime later to find herself snuggled up in Tony’s bed with the billionaire behind her. He was snoring quietly in her ear and had one arm draped over her middle, something she wasn’t quite used to waking up to yet. Grumbling at the taste in her mouth, the brunette slipped out from beneath his hold and got out of the bed to wander into the bathroom for her toothbrush. Casting a look at her reflection as she squeezed the toothpaste onto the bristles, she made a face at her appearance and sighed heavily. She was going to have to apologize to Steve. Both for her behavior and for going behind his back with Tony.

The brunette turned away from the mirror as she lazily brushed her teeth, folding her free arm across her chest and nearly jumping out of her skin when Tony appeared in the doorway. Twisting slightly to spit in the sink, she looked back at him, sheepishly wiping her bottom lip. “Hey,”

“Hey yourself, princess,” he smirked, coming further into the room with a yawn.

“I’m sorry if I woke you.”

Tony waved a dismissive hand, looking her over before pressing a kiss to her temple. “Don’t worry about it. How’re you feeling?”

Shrugging a shoulder, Syri turned again to finish brushing her teeth. “Same as always. Sick to my stomach. Throat hurts a little, too.”

“You were screaming up a storm.” The brunet informed her, studying his reflection a moment before attempting to push his hair back into place with his fingers.

“Oh God,” rinsing out her mouth, Syri rubbed a hand over her face. “Could you hear me all the way up here?”

“Not until I got to that floor, no. JARVIS’ Vitals Sensors went haywire while you were talking to Captain Douchebag. I saw the security feed of him chasing you around, and I came down to get you.”

“I don’t know what happened.” Setting her toothbrush back where it belonged, the brunette leaned against the counter with her hands braced on the edge. “One minute I was trying to get out of there because he was getting angry, the next I was throwing up and you were taking me upstairs.”

“Sounds pretty accurate.” Shrugging, Tony dropped an arm around her shoulders and smiled faintly when Syri shifted to lean against his side. “You need anything? Xanax? Booze?”

“Little late for the Xanax, don’t you think?” Looking up at him, Syri snorted and shook her head. “No, thanks. I think I’m all right now. Just a little ill.”

“So…” Tony turned to lead the brunette out of the bathroom and through the bedroom. “Everything seems to be in place now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I broke it off with Pepper, you broke it off with Steve…”

Syri leaned back a bit and stared up at the older man. “You broke up with Pepper? When?”

“Few nights ago.” Rubbing the back of his neck, Tony did his best not to look guilty as he flicked his eyes elsewhere in the room. “She wasn’t happy, but she didn’t take it as badly as Spangle Butt.”

“I cheated on him, Tony. I don’t know how you expected him to take the news, but I’d say that was pretty accurate.”

Shrugging, the billionaire steered Syri out of the bedroom, heading for the balcony and snatching up a pack of cigarettes on the bar before stepping outside. Lighting up two of them, he handed one to Syri and dropped his arm from around her shoulders as he leaned on the railing to look out at the city.

“Tony?” The brunette tipped her head at him curiously, reaching to curl her fingers around his shoulder as she stepped closer.

“Hm?”

“Does this mean that you and I…?”

Looking over at her with an unreadable expression on his face, the brunet turned slightly and raised an eyebrow. “Does it mean that you and I _what_ , Syri?”

“Are we…” she fumbled with her hands, trying to find some way to put the words together. “Legitimate?”

The older man couldn’t stop the laugh that left him. Taking a drag from his cigarette, he nodded slowly, still eyeing her with that odd look on his face. “That’s one way of putting it.”

“What would you call it?”

Shrugging, the billionaire reached out and put an arm around her waist, pulling her close and not saying a thing as he smoked. When he was through, Tony flicked the cigarette over the side of the balcony and rested his chin on Syri’s shoulder, still looking out at the city below them.

“Tony, you’re avoiding the question again.”

“Hush,” he muttered back. “I’m thinking.”

“You have to _think_ about what to call us?”

“No, I have to think about where I’m going to take you next week.”

“Tony, we’ve been over this. I can’t just up and leave my work, or my dog. And I still have to finish talking to Steve about this. You know that, right?”

Turning his head to look at her, Tony rolled his eyes and smirked. “I told you, you have enough vacation time to take a week or two off. You can bring the dog. As for Spangle Butt, _fine_. But I’ll be watching.”

“Of course you will.” Shaking her head, the brunette grunted lightly and shifted to rest herself comfortably against his chest. “You nosy bastard.”

“Italy still sound good to you?” Tony asked, taking the woman’s cigarette to steal a drag, then pitch it off the side of the building.

“I wasn’t finished with that.”

“Just answer the question, princess.”

Puffing out her cheeks, Syri sighed heavily and turned to look up at him. After what seemed like forever, she nodded a little and stole a quick kiss. “Yes. Italy still sounds good.”

“How are you fixed for tomorrow?”

“You want to leave _tomorrow_? Tony, you know that SHIELD requires me to—”

Lifting a hand, the brunet rested his fingertips against the younger woman’s lips to silence her. “I’ll deal with SHIELD. You just get your things packed. And your mutt. You can bring him to the tower, if you want.”

“You want me to walk all the way to the apartment, pack my stuff, then walk back with Gabe?”

“Of course not. Happy will take you. JARVIS?”

_Yes sir?_

“Call Hogan. Tell him to bring the car around.”

_Right away, sir._

“Wait a minute!” Syri frowned up at Tony, trying her hardest not to scowl at him. “Why are you in such a hurry to run off somewhere?”

“I need a reason to want to leave the country?” Tony raised an eyebrow, shooting her a cheeky sort of look. “I thought, as Tony Stark, I was completely capable of springing a random trip on my _girlfriend_ whenever I felt like it? Or are you going to give me the same excuse you always gave Steve? Is your job going to come first, princess?”

Syriana stared hard at the man in front of her, trying to let everything sink in at once. Blinking a few times, she slowly started to shake her head, her shoulders sagging lightly in defeat. “You win, Taplight. I’ll call Fury in the car. But you do realize that Gabriel is going to want to sleep on the bed with us, right?”

“I’ll deal with it. So long as he doesn’t take up my spot.”

“You never cease to amaze me, you know that?” Shaking her head, Syri snorted and ducked away, heading for the door. “I don’t know what’s going on with you Tony, but you better not try to spring something stupid on me. Like wanting children.”

“Oh God, no. Never.”

“Good. Because you know you won’t get those out of me. I have my dog, and I have you. That’s enough for me.” Grinning at the billionaire, Syri turned and rushed into the Tower before he had a chance to say anything in response.

Shaking his head with a low chuckle, Tony shoved his hands into his pockets and watched her go. After she’d disappeared into the elevator, he sighed some to himself and took one last glance at the city over his shoulder before heading back inside the Tower. “JARVIS,”

_Yes, sir?_

“Call the airport. Tell them to clean up the jet and prepare it for a trip to Venice. Make sure there are dog treats and… whatever else the mutt might need.”

_Right away, sir._

“Right. I guess I can call the hotel myself.” Nodding as if agreeing with his own words, Tony headed down the hall to the bedroom to grab his phone and make the call.


	5. Nature of the Beast

Tony couldn’t find Syriana. He’d backtracked through the hotel, wandered around the town surrounding it, and checked the beach five times already. He’d asked around a few times, but most people seemed to be more interested in freaking out over the fact that Tony Stark was addressing them like he could see them than trying to help him find his girlfriend. Utterly fed up after the third or fourth try to get some sort of clue out of one of the staff workers, Tony could only stomp back up to the room. He smelled the cigarette smoke before he even set foot in the hotel room, and heard the frantic tap of nails against a tablet screen coming from inside the little living room.

Walking into the room, the billionaire raised an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at the back of Syri’s head. “ _Busted._ ”

“ _Jesus Christ!_ ” Syri jumped in her seat, nearly knocking an ashtray over and upsetting Gabriel, who tumbled from the couch and barked in annoyance. Putting a hand over her heart, Syri turned around in her seat and scowled at the man standing behind her. “God damn, Tony. You trying to kill me?”

“What are you doing?” Tony strode over, plucking up the StarkTablet Syri had been working with. “We’re on vacation, De Luca. You told me you left this at home.”

“Don’t touch anything!” Syri sprang up from her spot, trying to take the tablet back from him. “Please don’t screw anything up on there!”

“Tell me what you’re doing, and you can have it back.” Tony held the tablet above his head, fixing the woman with a stern look. “You promised you wouldn’t bring your work with you.”

“That’s _your_ tablet, for one. And two, I’m not _working_. It’s a personal project. I got an idea while I was taking Gabe out for his walk, and I had to get it down.” The brunette frowned, folding her arms over her chest. “Can I have that back now, please? Before you hit something and erase all of my work?”

Making a face, Tony eyeballed the device in his hands. It was indeed his personal tablet. How she’d gotten a hold of it and gotten it to work for her was a bit confusing to him, considering he changed the password on the damn thing once a week. Then again, Syri was pretty damn good at cracking passwords. Sighing, he surrendered it to her and watched as she pressed a few things and saved what she’d been working on. Setting the tablet back on the table, Syri sighed and looked back up at the older man, offering a sheepish sort of smile in response to his less than pleased expression.

“I’m sorry,” she reached up to take his sunglasses off and set them on the table beside the tablet. “But you know how it is. You get an idea for something and you want to get it written down before you forget.”

“Mhmm.” Tony eyed her, his expression never changing even though he was smirking internally. Capturing one of Syri’s hands, he curled his fingers around hers and kissed her knuckles. “I guess the need to get your idea down overrode our lunch date?”

“ _Shit_.” Closing her eyes, the brunette thumped her head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stay up here this long.”

“You had me worried again, princess. You’re going to put me in an early grave, you know that?”

“Oh _stop_.” Rolling her eyes, Syri reached up and tapped the reactor with a fingernail. “This thing is going to keep you alive a lot longer than you think.”

“That isn’t exactly a confirmed thing, princess.”

“Shut up. You’re hardly _old_ to begin with.” A smirk crossed Syri’s lips and she stepped a little closer, resting against his front as she shook her hand free from his and slipped her arms around his middle. “You certainly don’t _act_ your age.”

“Last time I checked, you found that trait attractive in me.” Tony smiled back, moving to settle his hands on the brunette’s back when she suddenly twisted away from him. Raising a brow, he followed, looping his arm around her and lifting her clear off the floor. “No you don’t. You’re not playing this game again, princess.”

Letting out a loud, surprised laugh, Syri grabbed hold of the older man’s shoulders, raising a brow at him. “But you _like_ that game.”

“I think I’ve done enough running around after you today.” Tony grunted, shifting to tuck his arm beneath her legs.

“And what are you going to do now that you have me?” Syri dropped her voice to a low, sultry tone as she brought one hand up and trailed her fingertip over Tony’s jaw. The look she shot him had the billionaire growling as he pivoted on his heel and headed towards the bedroom. Kicking the door shut behind him, Tony brought the woman over to the bed and smirked before he dropped her unceremoniously on top of it. Yipping as she bounced, Syri laughed and brushed the hair out of her eyes. “I don’t know why I bother asking these things.”

“I don’t either, princess.” Tugging his shirt off over his head, Tony moved to crawl onto the bed beside the brunette, reaching out to grab her and grumbling when she rolled away to the other side. “You don’t play fair.”

“I told you that a long time ago, Taplight.” The younger woman grinned, looking around for a moment before clearing her throat. “JARVIS?”

_Yes, Miss De Luca?_

“Are you still synched with my playlists from my MP3 player?”

_I am._

“Good. Can you load up the playlist titled _Stark Naked_?”

 _…right away, Miss De Luca_.

“Thank you.” Looking back at Tony, Syri grinned at the look on his face and laughed a little. “What’s wrong, Tony?”

“One, you have a playlist called _Stark Naked_. Two, you’re ordering my AI around and he’s _listening_ to you. Three,” Tony shifted to sit on the bed, chuckling lightly. “You’ve succeeded in making him sound _embarrassed_.”

“Trust me, there’s a reason this playlist exists. And JARVIS listens to small requests.” Shrugging, Syri went over to one of the miniature control panels Tony had brought with them, skipping through a few songs before she found the right one. “You programmed him, Tony. I’ve told you before that he seems more real than he is. Shit, you know that better than anybody else.”

“What are you doing?” Tony asked, frowning as he watched Syri drag one of the glass top side tables to a different spot in the room. The petite brunette didn’t answer. Instead, she kicked her flip flops off and carefully climbed up to stand on the surface of the table. Giving a few experimental sways of her hips to make sure the thing wouldn’t topple over, Syri looked back at a confused looking Tony and simply smiled.

“You look nervous.” Hooking her thumbs in the hem of her shirt, Syri pulled it off and tossed it to the floor.

“I would feel a little better if you weren’t attempting to table dance for me on top of something that looks like it could give out from beneath you at any minute.” The older man confessed, eyeballing the glass top table.

“Oh, come on.” Syri laughed, bending slightly to push her shorts down her thighs. “What’s the worst that could— _shit!_ ”

Tony leapt up from his spot the moment the table wobbled and pitched Syriana forward, snatching her up with a grunt before she could hit the floor. Stumbling back when her weight hit his chest, the billionaire swore and tried to keep a good grip on the brunette as they both tumbled back onto the bed. They lay there for a few minutes, just breathing and not saying anything until Syri started to giggle.

“That wasn’t funny,” Tony muttered, trying to stop a laugh that was bubbling in his throat. “I knew that was going to be a bad idea. Jesus.”

“This is what I get for trying to be sexy. Good God,” Laughing loudly, Syri pressed her face to Tony’s shoulder and shook her head. “I’m way too awkward for this shit, I swear.”

“You’re sexy all on your own, De Luca.” Tony muttered, grumbling as he attempted to sit up with her in his lap. “A table dance isn’t going to do much, anyway. Drunk Hotel Heiresses dance on tables. Drug Addled B-List Actresses dance on tables. You know I like you best when you’re bent over a table, slaving over a computer or a motherboard anyway.”

“You just like me when I’m bent over.” Syri quipped back, squirming around as she tried to get her shorts back into place. Looking over her shoulder, she raised a brow. “Did I break it?”

“Don’t think so. Even if you did, it wouldn’t be the worst thing that’s ever happened in a hotel room I’ve stayed in. In fact, it’d probably be the least amount of damage ever caused.” Finally managing to sit up, Tony shifted Syri so she was straddling him, and smiled when she looked back at him. “You wanna try swinging from the chandelier in the other room while you’re at it, gorgeous?”

“You’re so funny.” Making a face at the brunet, Syri sighed and brushed the hair out of her eyes. “Well, I guess we could just do this the normal way.”

“You mean tearing each other’s clothes off and ripping apart the bedsheets in the process?” Tony grinned.

“If you don’t think it would be too boring.”

The older man squinted slightly, shooting her an odd look. “Why would it be boring? Is it ever boring between us, princess?”

“Not really, no.”

“Then why,” he paused long enough to scoot up on the bed and roll Syri beneath him, bracing an elbow on the mattress as he rested his cheek against the knuckles of his hand. With his free hand, he lightly trailed his fingertips along her bare side. “Are you trying to _spice_ things up, hm?”

Syri shrugged in her spot beneath him, biting her bottom lip and doing nothing to stop a shiver that ran up her back at the touch. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”

“If the sex is boring, sure. But you just assured me that it’s just as exciting as always. Hence the confusion.”

“I just thought it’d be fun.” The brunette confessed, giving another small shrug and a light gasp as Tony brushed his fingers over the surface of her scarred belly. Biting down harder on her lip, she did her best to keep from protesting the touch. She didn’t mind the occasional pass of a hand over the marks, but it made her a little uncomfortable whenever Tony traced them with his fingers.

“That’s sweet. You’d risk breaking your neck on a cheap IKEA table just to turn me on.” Tony grinned slow, moving his touch a little lower.

“Shush,” Syri murmured, shifting a little. Bringing a hand up, she curled her fingers around the back of his head and brought him down for a slow, deep kiss, groaning into his mouth. Tony moved over her, brushing her knees apart to rest between them. A low, guttural sound left his throat as he tucked himself close to the brunette, his hands skimming up her sides to push her bra out of the way. Pulling back from the kiss, the older man started to nip a line down Syri’s throat, teeth scraping lightly over her collarbone as he ventured lower, squeezing her breasts in both of his palms.

“Tony,”

“You need to invest in some front clasping bras, princess,” Tony muttered when his lips met the material of her bra. “Unless you want this one torn open like the last one.”

“ _Tony_.” Syri’s voice was a little sharper this time, and the billionaire lifted his head to look at her.

“What?”

The sound of someone clearing their throat behind them made Tony close his eyes and almost snarl in frustration. Sitting up a little, he twisted around and raised a brow at an unfazed looking hotel worker holding Syriana’s precious dog.

“I tried knocking.” The man behind them said, flinching a little as Gabriel started to lick his cheek. “You are the only guests in the hotel with a dog. He was wandering in the lobby… _humping_ the luggage of a very respectable woman. I suggest you keep the door shut.”

“Is that all?” Tony asked impatiently, doing his best to keep Syri covered. They seemed to have a bit of a habit of getting caught like this. He could remember back to the first time they’d nearly had sex; it had been one interruption after another, and frankly, it had been the most irritating thing he’d ever experienced.  The hotel worker nodded and Tony shot him a dirty look. “Then put the dog down and get the hell out.”

“ _Tony,_ ” Syri hissed, giving him a pinch. Looking over the brunet’s shoulder, she cast a faint smile at the man and cleared her throat. “I appreciate you bringing him back. Thank you. I apologize if he was a hassle.”

“Indeed.” Setting the dog down, the man attempted to get a better peek at Syriana’s chest before he turned and walked out. Waiting until they heard the door to the front room close, the two on the bed stayed silent. Shaking her head with a laugh at the situation, Syri covered her mouth and tried not to snort when Tony fixed her with an irritated look.

“How many times has this happened to us now?” The billionaire asked, grumbling when Gabriel jumped up onto the bed and licked his face. “Ugh,”

“Gabe, go lay down.” Syri brushed the dog away, shifting to sit up and fix her bra before she rubbed the dog slobber off of Tony’s cheek with her hand. “Don’t look so grouchy. Be glad it wasn’t Happy again. Or Rhodey. God, that was awkward.”

“I’ll say. I had to deal with him side-eyeing me for weeks after that.” Finally giving up on the idea that he was going to be getting any at the moment, Tony rolled off of Syri and sat up, running his hands through his hair. Looking back over at the younger woman, he raised an eyebrow and reached for the pack of cigarettes sitting on the remaining bedside table. “So, since sex seems to be out of the question, what do you want to do, princess?”

Gnawing at her lip, Syri tipped her head in thought and smiled slowly as she leaned over and rested her chin on Tony’s shoulder. “There’s a Tech Convention going on in the city. I think it might be interesting to see what the Italians have going for them.”

“Really?” Tony snorted, lighting up a cigarette. “You could do anything at all, and you want me to take you to a Tech Convention?”

“I’ll wear that little red dress you love so much.” Syri kissed his ear, giving it a nip. “And I won’t wear anything underneath it.”

Eyeing her for a moment, the brunet took a slow, thoughtful drag and then shrugged. “All right. But only on one condition.”

“And what would that be?”

“I want to see you handle some of the tech. I don’t care if it’s a pair of solar powered rollerblades. Promise me that, and you’ve got a deal, princess.”

Grinning from ear to ear, Syri took the cigarette out from between Tony’s lips and brought him in for a kiss. “You’ve got it, Taplight.”

“See? This is why I love you.” The older man said with a smile.

“Excuse me?” Syri blinked, nearly dropping the cigarette into the billionaire’s lap. “What did you just say?”

Inside, Tony tensed considerably. Well, he hadn’t exactly _meant_ to let that out so early on in the trip. For a moment, he contemplated covering his tracks, but taking it back now would probably cause more problems than he wanted to deal with. So, in an uncharacteristic move on his part, he shrugged and cleared his throat, bringing his dark eyes up to meet hers. “I believe I just told you I love you, princess. Does that shock you?”

“A little bit, yeah.” Syri nodded, her features relaxing a bit. Leaning in close again, she pressed a soft kiss to his lips and smiled. “But it’s okay. Because I love you too.”

“How could you not?” Tony asked, laughing when the brunette gave his shoulder a smack.

“Get dressed, you cheeky bastard. I’m going to go walk Gabriel one more time before we leave.” Shaking her head, Syri stole another kiss from Tony, lightly nuzzling his cheek before bouncing off of the bed and taking his cigarette with her.

“You might want to put a shirt on, princess.” Tony called after her, getting to his feet to find something in the closet to wear.

“Right.” Turning around, Syri bent at the waist and snatched up the shirt Tony had discarded, pulling it on over her head. Slipping her feet into her flip flops, she smiled over at him and handed back the cigarette. “Be back in a few.”

Nodding, Tony watched her go, letting out a whistle as he shook his head. Next to seeing her in that little red dress, he’d have to say watching her walk around in his clothes had to be the sexiest damn thing he’d ever seen. Looking at his reflection in the mirror in front of him, the billionaire fussed with his hair and sighed. “She’s a good one, Stark. Don’t fuck this up.”


End file.
